Rene Rast wins the DTM championship title in his rookie season

Rene Rast is the 2017 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters champion! The 30-year-old driver of the #33 Audi RS5 DTM takes the title in his rookie season in the DTM after finishing second in the last race of the season at Hockenheimring, behind BMW’s Marco Wittmann.

Rast started the race from P2, the best of four championship contenders. Mike Rockenfeller was seventh on the grid while Mattias Ekstrom and Jamie Green, who received grid penalties, started from P14 and P15. Rast lost three places on the opening lap but returned to P3 until the mandatory pitstop on lap 23.

Rene Rast – the 2017 DTM champion

BMW’s Tom Blomqvist started from pole and led until his pitstop on lap 15, when he lost a lead to another BMW driver Marco Wittmann. Later he lost the second place to Rene Rast and then retired on lap 25 after a contact with Robert Wickens.

In the closing laps, Mike Rockenfeller stole the last podium spot from Maxime Martin (BMW), who eventually dropped to P6, behind Gary Paffett and Jamie Green. Mattias Ekstrom finished eighth, collecting some points but it was not enough for title. At the end, Rast is the champion with 179 points, three more than Ekstrom.